In the United States v. Barclays Capital Inc.(Amended Complaint, United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York,16-CV-7057, May 11, 2017) the Department of Justice alleged that Barclays caused billions of dollars in losses to investors through fraudulent sales of 36 residential mortgage-backed securities ("RMBS") in which over $31 billion worth of subprime and Alt-A mortgage loans were securitized and more than half of which defaulted. DOJ alleged that Barclays misled investors about the quality of the mortgage loans backing those deals. READ the FULL TEXT Amended Complaint

https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1047096/download DOJ reached a settlement agreement with Barclays Capital, Inc. and several of its affiliates by which Barclays will pay $2,000,000,000 in civil penalties in exchange for dismissal of the Amended Complaint. In exchange for dismissal of the claims against Paul K. Menefee, who served as Barclays' head banker on its subprime RMBS securitizations, and John T. Carroll, who served as Barclays' head trader for subprime loan acquisitions, the two individuals will them pay a combined $2,000,000 in civil penalties. READ the FULL TEXT Agreement for Compromise Settlement and Releasehttps://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1047101/download

Arizona-Based Peer-To-Peer Bitcoin Trader Convicted of Money Laundering(DOJ Press Release) https://www.justice.gov/usao-az/pr/arizona-based-peer-peer-bitcoin-trader-convicted-money-launderingThomas Mario Costanzo, a.k.a. Morpheus Titania, was found guilty of five counts of money laundering by a federal jury. As set forth in part in the DOJ Press Release:

The evidence at trial showed that federal agents initiated an investigation of Costanzo in 2014, after identifying an advertisement he posted on a peer-to-peer bitcoin exchange website. In the advertisement, Costanzo advertised that he was willing to engage in cash transactions up to $50,000. When undercover federal agents approached Costanzo and told him that they were drug dealers, Costanzo provided them with bitcoin and told them it was a great way to limit their exposure to law enforcement. The jury found that over a two-year period, Costanzo took $164,700 in cash from the agents (whom he believed to be heroin and cocaine traffickers) and exchanged it for bitcoin in order to conceal and disguise the nature, location, source, ownership, and control of the drug proceeds. The evidence at trial also showed that Costanzo used bitcoin to purchase drugs from others and that he provided bitcoin to individuals who were buying drugs via the internet.

The evidence at trial also showed how bitcoin operates. Bitcoin is a decentralized form of electronic currency. Bitcoin may be used for legitimate purposes, and anyone can obtain bitcoin from a commercial on-line exchange by paying about 1.5% as a commission and providing identity information to the exchange. In contrast, Costanzo charged between 7% and 10% in his peer-to-peer transactions and did not learn his customers' identities.

Yesenia Guitron worked at Wells Fargo's St. Helena, California Branch from 2008 to 2010. She refused to open fake bank accounts. She complained about what she felt were fraudulent practices. Wells Fargo fired her. Although Guitron filed federal whistleblower claims against Wells Fargo, the federal courts dismissed her claims based upon findings that Wells Fargo had presented clear and convincing evidence that Guitron could have otherwise been terminated for failing to meet sales goals, insubordination, and refusing to return to work after being placed on administrative leave. Essentially, the courts believed that notwithstanding her allegations of employer misconduct, Wells Fargo had demonstrated that they had other legitimate grounds on which to have otherwise fired the employee. Notwithstanding. Otherwise. Sometimes ya gotta love how blind (or blinded) Justice can be. Sadly, there are times when she's stumbling around in the dark.

A federal grand jury returned a 13-count indictment charging financial planner Gregory Alan Smith and church pastor Kirbyjon H. Caldwell with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, six counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and three counts of money laundering. Additionally, Smith and Caldwell are charged in two separate counts of money laundering. As set forth in part in the DOJ Press Release:

[S]mith used his influence and status as the operator and manager of Smith Financial Group LLC in Shreveport, and Caldwell used his influence and status as pastor at a prominent Houston church to lure investors to pay more than $1 million to invest in Historical Chinese bonds. These bonds were issued by the former Republic of China prior to losing power to the communist government in 1949. They are not recognized by China's current government and have no investment value. Smith and Caldwell promised high rates of return, sometimes three to 15 times the value of the investments. Instead of investing the funds, the defendants used them to pay personal loans, credit card balances, mortgages, vehicle purchases and other personal expenses.

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BILL SINGER is a lawyer who represents securities-industry firms, individual registered persons, Wall Street whistleblowers, and defrauded public investors. For over three decades, Singer has represented clients before the American Stock Exchange, the New York Stock Exchange, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (formerly the NASD), the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, and in criminal investigations brought by various federal, state, and local prosecutors. He has the distinction of representing witnesses during Congressional investigations. In 2015, Singer achieved a significant award in excess of $1 million from the Securities and Exchange Commission on behalf of a whistleblower client.

Singer is presently Of Counsel to a law firm and the publisher of the BrokeAndBroker.com Blog, which was rated as one of the industry's top eight destination websites and the leading legal/regulatory blog by "Investment News."

Before entering the private practice of law, Singer was employed in the Legal Department of Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Co.; as a regulatory attorney with both the American Stock Exchange and the NASD (now FINRA); and as a Legal Counsel to Integrated Resources Asset Management. Singer was formerly Chief Counsel to the Financial Industry Association; General Counsel to the NASD Dissidents' Grassroots Movement; and General Counsel to the Independent Broker-Dealer Association. He was registered for a number of years as a Series 7 and Series 63 stockbroker.

Singer regularly appears as a commentator on television and radio, and is frequently quoted in the press. He is an outspoken critic of ineffective regulation and an advocate for economic and political sanity.